Andrea Horwath

Andrea Horwath
Leader of the Ontario NDP
Incumbent
Assumed office  March 7, 2009
Preceded by	Howard Hampton
MPP for Hamilton East
In office May 13, 2004 – 2007
Preceded by	Dominic Agostino
Succeeded by	riding dissolved
MPP for Hamilton Centre
Incumbent
Assumed office  2007
Preceded by	first member
Born	1963 Hamilton, Ontario
Political party	New Democratic Party
Occupation	community development worker, city councillor

Andrea Horwath, pronounced Horvath, (born 1963) is a politician in Ontario, Canada. She is currently a member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, representing the riding of Hamilton Centre for the Ontario New Democratic Party, and was chosen as the party's new leader at its 2009 leadership convention.

She is the first woman to lead the Ontario New Democratic Party, and only the second woman, after Lyn McLeod, to serve as leader of a political party with representation in the provincial legislature.

Background

Horwath was born and raised in Hamilton, Ontario, and has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Labour Studies from McMaster University in that city. She worked closely with the Hamilton labour movement for several years, programming and providing literacy, numeracy and ESL training for workers. She subsequently got involved in the cooperative housing movement in Welland, and later became a community development coordinator for Hamilton's McQueston Legal Clinic, providing public legal education to groups working with tenants, injured workers and people with disabilities.

In 1996 Horwath earned a certificate of achievement in anti-racism training, and was an organizer of Hamilton's highly successful Days of Action campaign against provincial government cutbacks announced by Mike Harris. That year she received the Woman of the Year Award in Public Affairs from the Hamilton Status of Women Committee in recognition of her work in the community. She also dedicated her time and efforts toward the field of social housing and was subsequently awarded the Graham Emslie Award for Community Development in Housing by the Canadian Housing and Renewal Association.

She lives in Hamilton with her partner Ben Leonetti and their son Julian.

Political career

In the Canadian federal election of 1997, she was the NDP candidate against incumbent Liberal Stan Keyes in the riding of Hamilton West. Although unsuccessful, her second-place finish was a significant improvement on previous NDP efforts in the riding, and gave her an increased level of prominence in the city.

Later in the year, she was elected to Hamilton City Council for Ward Two, outpolling two incumbents who had represented the area for more than twenty years. She emerged as a prominent voice for the political left in the city, and was re-elected to council in 2000 and 2003. During her three terms as city councillor, she chaired the solid waste management committee and the municipal non-profit housing corporation.

By-election

Horwath was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in a 2004 by-election in the then-extant provincial riding of Hamilton East, defeating Liberal candidate Ralph Agostino to succeed the deceased Liberal member Dominic Agostino, Ralph's brother. Winning 63.6 per cent of the vote, up from the NDP's 29.4% in that riding six months earlier, her landslide victory gave the NDP official party status in the legislature, and helped give the federal New Democratic Party a bounce in Hamilton that would continue into the federal election shortly thereafter.

2007 election

In the 2007 election, Horwath ran in the new riding of Hamilton Centre, due to redistricting that divided her former Hamilton East riding between Hamilton Centre and the new riding of Hamilton East—Stoney Creek. Horwath's new Hamilton Centre riding included approximately half of her former riding as well as a portion of the former Hamilton West riding in which she had run federally in 1997. It also included her entire former city council ward.

In the leadup to the campaign, Horwath was expected to face Hamilton West Liberal incumbent Judy Marsales. However, Marsales opted not to run for another term, and Horwath easily defeated Liberal candidate Steve Ruddick on election day.

Leadership campaign

On November 7, 2008, Horwath officially launched her campaign to win the party's leadership. The leadership election was held March 6-8, 2009. Horwath led on the first two ballots, and won on the third ballot with 60.4% of the vote.^[1]

Electoral record

References

External links

• Andrea Horwath
• Legislative Assembly of Ontario biography

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